Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A Picture

Here's a picture I meant to post with the Red River Gorge post from last week. I've got more blogs to write, but I keep wasting time in the evenings on Facebook and oh, just wasting time in general.



Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Red River Gorge(ous) and a Wonderful Weekend

I have so many blogs in my head to post, I figured that I shouldn't let this one go too far past this weekend.





Friday, my husband and I left town to visit one of the best natural beauties in Kentucky--Red River Gorge/Natural Bridge. My best friend and her husband got a cabin for the weekend, and invited us along. The drive there was beautiful, and when we got there, the cabin was quaint, cute, and without air conditioning (not so pleasant, but bearable).





We had a dinner of steak and baked potatoes with salad and then dessert by the fire. MMMMM 'smores. I'd been craving those for quite some time. I can't remember the last time I sat by a fire, not worrying about the next test, the next day, the next hoop to jump through. Other than mosquitoes feasting on me, I can't complain at all.





The next morning, we had yummy bacon, biscuits, apples, and eggs. We went hiking for around 3 hours. I love hiking, and it had been forever. I like getting to find tiny things along the trail, like a snail with it's "antennae" outstretched, gliding along a leaf; a vibrantly colored piece of fungus growing on a log; an oddly shaped tree mimicking a pregnant belly, or making a perfect seat out of its branches. I love to see the motion of tiny things alive, juxtaposed against an overall silence and stillness.





We got tired and hungry after our hike, came back to the cabin and were quickly rained in by a down-pour. We took full advantage, and had a refreshing nap. Afterwards, we canoed a few miles UPSTREAM, and I jumped off of this rock:



Seriously, it's a LOT taller than it appears, especially from the top.

We canoed back to the cabin, had dinner of chicken and veggie kabobs, and sat by the fire again, roasting marshmallows.

Sunday, we came back to town for church, and had a wonderful service about the qualities of a Good Shepherd. I'm so happy to know that I have a savior who I can trust, follow, and lean on. Sunday night was VBS. Seeing the kids participate and learn is great, and I had fun along the way too.


Friday, July 11, 2008

Heaven on a Table and a Burrito?

Ahhhhhh. Freedom. TODAY WAS THE LAST DAY OF THIRD YEAR! WHORAY! I'm going to blog a reflection on third year soon, but I had to say what I did to celebrate first.


Last fall, my wonderful husband got me a gift certificate to use at a local salon and spa. So, today, I got my first ever massage and herbal body wrap, as well as my second ever facial. Heavenly.


I'm not sure which part I liked best. The facial was delectible. The herbal wrap, a little weird, but, I got to take a nap during it. The massage needed to last longer....ahhhh.


So, the burrito part. For the herbal wrap, they took these sheets which were steeped in some tea-looking liquid and put one under me, one over me, and then proceeded to wrap me up in this garb, which, seriously, had to have made me look like a burrito (aluminum foil included). There was a layer of plastic, then multiple layers of those hypothermia/fire protective tent thing type material, then more plastic, then blankets, and then more blankets. It would have been great to have gotten a picture of me in there!


This might have to do instead:

After that was the massage, mostly of my upper back, shoulders, and arms, with a bit of neck thrown in.
Nice, very nice. I recommend it to everyone, especially after finishing third year.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

July 1 = The Medical New Year

This year, I was actually on the wards when the infamous "JULY 1" occurred. It was interesting, and a bit terrifying.

One of our new interns was from my medical school, the other, from a state in the North East... a foreign man in a very foreign country. He had the unfortunate "luck" of getting one of our most complicated patients for his first day EVER as a REAL DOCTOR.

Poor thing, to say he was a bit discombobulated is putting it lightly. His first presentation was probably the quality of a third year medical student in their first few months of school. Granted, as I said, this patient was VERY complicated, but he was not able to calm himself enough before hand and get collected over the whole thing. His order was wrong, he left things out, included things he shouldn't have, and said the name of each electrolyte before each of their values in the BMP. Needless to say, by the end of his presentation, there were beads of sweat on his brow. By the end of rounds, he was kneeling down, muttering unintelligible phrases and what I think were a few curse words as well.

In the next few days, he seemed to rebound, but his rebound came in the form of assertiveness about things sort of ancillary to the beef of the presentation. I'm sure he'll be fine, but to see his thrashing, treading, and near-drowning the first day was a learning point.

Lesson Learned--
1. July 1 stinks
2. Remember to breathe July 1, 2009---this could very well be me (and will probably be me in 2009)
3. Consider staying the night of June 30, 2009 in the hospital, just to get ready
4. Do whatever it takes to prepare for the morning of July 1, 2009
5. Remember to breathe July 1, 2009

What It's Worth--
It will probably be worth not feeling as if my entire previous 4 years of medical education weren't wasted, and also be worth some self-esteem that first gut and mind wrenching day.